Apocalypse Now!

So just imagine, you have done pretty well for yourself, inherited a bunch of money, and was able to put your hands on millions of dollars. Then, out of nowhere, the world start to fall apart. It really doesn't matter what you do, the country gets sucked into a major war, catastrophe, or has a massive civil war. What are you going to do with all that cash, not to mention art works, gold bullion, a fancy house, jewelry, etc?

That is the subject of this book. Barton Biggs discusses what happened to wealth during the two world wars, how the market reacted, and also seemed to predict, the outcome. He also discussed what to do with your own millions.

Amazingly, prior to major turning points in the war, the markets in multiple different countries seem to rally if they were connected to the Allies. Conversely, The Axis powers had initial rallies during the first two years of the war, but then, a couple of months prior to the Allies gaining the upper hand, they fell apart. There probably was some component of a consensus in the market that sensed which way the war was going. Good stuff.

The best wealth protector for the ultra-rich? Foreign farm land. Beat everything else down the line, except for jewelry, which was needed in those short-term starvation cases where the food supply was also destroyed, and you could trade family heirlooms for stale bread.

Happy Investing!